The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-02-16
VIENNA VIEWS.
SIGHTS AND SCENES IN THE
AUSTRIAN CAPITAL.
House Numbers-Street Cars-The
Cafes - Initiating Paris The
Military and Barracks
The Middle Glasses.

Cafes - Initiating Paris-The
Military and Barracks
The Middle Glasses.
The manner of numbering iu Vienna Is
practical, writes correspondent of the
San Francisco Chronicle. Over every
door is cast-iron plate of good size,
bearing the name of the street and the
number of the house. As the plates are
oblong, OF oval, they indicate direction.
So by consulting these plates one knows
at once where be is, aud by observing
their form he understands what course
he must take to bring him into familiar
quarter.
There is certain individuality about
everything in Vienna. It is German-like
without being German, like the speech,
which with its queer accent and its
local forms, is colloquially little more
than a dialect of the German language.
! The street-car lines are we'll systematized
and the service generally good. though
there are exceptions. The conductor,
person uniformed in blue and as neat as
those on the horse cars in San Francis
co, gives the stranger all the information
that Is possible in the absence of COM
mon tongue, and takes willingly in re-
turn three or four kreutzers, if they are
offered. If they are not, he looks pathet-
ically after the inquiring passenger
when he dismou IT'S, but says nothing.
The fare is eight kreutzers-a little over
three cents, and for this amount, by
taking Correspondence" ticket. one
can 60 to any part of tho city, changing
! cars two or three times if necessary. The
cars are unlike those seen elsewhere in
Europe. The front and rear platforms
occupy each about one-third of the We
hicle. They are covered and have few
seats, sometimes all on the side next the
mid lie of the car, sometimes a part OF
them at the front or rear railing. The
inclosed portion is provided with seats
of the usual pattern.
Though the cafes are marked feature
of Vienna life, their clientele is small
compared with those of Paris. The best
furnish only coffee, with tea if it is de-
sired, and a few liquors. At those of the
second class it is coffee and beer or wine,
and at those that are still inferior, princi-
pally beer. The garoon is generally q
good-natured fellow, with plain,
peasant-like face and feet that form a
sort of Bedloe.Island base for q person
that is far from statuesque. In cafes OF
the first class he is decently attiEed
always in the conventional swallow-tall.
The Vienna cafe is an architectural Gu
riosity. Those at Paris have fiat or
paneled ceiling, artistically frescoed and
profusely bronzed or gilded. The ground
story of most Vienna buildings is lofty
and vaulted, and under these great
arches, which are ornamented with fres.
Goes, assemble nightly crowd gathered
to gossip and read the newspapers.
Where the collection of newspapers is
large the assemblage is polygot. Here
are seen Americans English, Russians.
Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Hun
garians, Turks, Roumanians and French,
j for, though the latter find Germany now
off their route, Vienna still has its
charms. 1t buys French goods, it imi.
tates Paris and it is inferior to Paris, all
of which peculiarities form claims to
consideration in the eyes of patriotic
Frenchmen. The Cafe Central has on
its list several hundred daily and weekly
papers, printed in all languages. The
| traveller who does not read German
| fluently, and who is perishing for news,
first inquiries for the London papers, then
for those of Paris. There are none of
them, perhaps, forthcoming, and looking
about for the cause, be discovers thin
piled up about some one who has the
appearance of an Englishman, who.
when the garcon timidly approaches and
asks that some of them be released,
growls in angry refusal.
The military idea is as prevalent in
Austria as elsewhere in Europe. There
is good food for powder to be found in
the Tyrol, in Styria, in Bohemia, in Hun
gary-iu fact, in all the outlying prov
inces. The peasantry are stalwart and
not wanting in soldierly qualities, but
! thew are not over-anxious to fight the
Hapsburgs' battles. The uniforms have
more or less of the variety of the races
that 90 to make up the empire. The
Hungarian soldiers retain their national
characteristics OF dress, the Styrians and
Tyrolese their short breeches, their
mountain green and ROSTERS feather.
The private uniforms are neat and con-
venient, the jacket or blouse short and
the pantaloons either made to tit the leg
like long stocking, or very narrow and
having little play about the ankle. The
| uniforms of officers are trim, and, like
those in Italy, made to fit closely. The
| ofi>e themselves are not so handsome
as their Italian confreres, but they have
a general air of ncatness and careful
keeping. Their pay is wrctched, those
of the line receiving from $a25 to $24O a
wear, which is not enough to support
them decently They are, in consequence,
often in debt, and frequently compelled
to resort to disreputable practices to exc
out precarious existence. But the mill
tary effort of the people is not alone
manifest in the army aud navy, whose
representatives are seen everywhere.
There are immense barracks, not only in
Vienna, but in every important city of
the country, which impress the visitor
| BY their immense size and their archltec-
tural pretensions.
There is such gentleness of de-
meanor among the portion of the popu-
lation of Vienna, properly called Ger
man. that one wonders how the Haps-
, bures, who belonged to the same class,
could ever have acquired their bad repu-
tution for cruelty and oppression. The
Vienna burgher is as modest in dress as
nuiet in manner. His clothing is of
!, t....1 ,,boto ntio1lu hut not